Kazakhstan vs Austria Prediction: Arnautovic to strike

Kazakhstan take on Austria at Ortalyq stadion on Thursday (15:00) in the Uefa Nations League, knowing that they have only pride to play for in the final two fixtures. The home side have taken just a single point from their four Nations League clashes to date, losing the other three, including a 4-0 hammering against the visitors last month.

Austria are locked in an intense battle with Norway and Slovenia for promotion from League B Group C. The three sides are all on seven points, so this match could be key for Austria ahead of their crunch clash against Slovenia on Sunday. Read on for my Kazakhstan vs Austria prediction, featuring the latest match odds and team news.

Kazakhstan vs Austria Odds

Kazakhstan are 11/1 to pull off a surprising victory, which gives them a theoretical chance of 8.3%. Austria are priced at 1/4 to take the three points, giving them an implied probability of 80%. The draw can be backed at 5/1 (16.7%).

Both teams to score is on offer at 11/10 and over 2.5 goals is marketed at 4/7.

Austria duo Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer have both scored two goals in the Nations League so far. The former is 7/2 to open the scoring, while the latter is 7/4 to score anytime on Thursday.

Football Odds

Team News

Kazakhstan boss Stanislav Cherchesov has selected a 27-man squad for this international camp, led by captain and midfield star Askhat Tagybergen.

The home side are yet to score a goal in the Nations League, so there will be a lot of focus in attacking areas. Their all-time top scorer Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov, who plys his trade for Besiktas domestically, should partner up with another Turkish Super Lig player, Adana Demirspor's Abat Aymbetov, at the top end of the pitch

Astana trio Aleksandr Marochkin, Yan Vorogovskiy and Marat Bystrov look set to join Zenit St Petersburg's Nuraly Alip in defence.

For Austria, their main absence continues to be David Alaba due to a serious injury. Manager Ralf Rangnick has welcomed back fellow defenders Kevin Danso and Max Wober, with the latter having only just recovered from a serious injury of his own.

Andreas Weimann will be hoping to feature after his bright start to the season with Blackburn Rovers, including two goals at the weekend against Cardiff City in the EFL Championship. He will be competing with the likes of Michael Gregoritsch and Junior Adamu to join Inter Milan forward Arnautovic in the final third.

Defender Philipp Lienhart will be raring to go in the heart of defence again for Das Team, having scored two goals himself in the Nations League, with one of them coming against Kazakhstan last month.

Sabitzer was on the scoresheet in that match too and he is likely to start in the midfield for this one. The attacking Christoph Baumgartner also grabbed a goal in the reverse fixture, but he will likely be rested by his boss for the all-important clash with Slovenia on Sunday.

Austria to win to nil @ 5/6

With Kazakhstan still looking toothless in attack, while easy to score against themselves, I can't see anything other than a routine victory for Austria here. On home soil, they fired four goals past them, so they will be hoping for more of the same here.

I'm confident in them winning and keeping a clean sheet, but whether they can match or surpass the four-goal showing from last month, I'm not so sure. I think Rangnick will be thinking that this game could be wrapped up at 2-0, and with a much bigger fixture ahead of them at the weekend, any key personnel who may start on Thursday could be removed early to preserve them for Slovenia.

Rangnick may also put out a heavily altered side to accommodate this thought, but I still think there is plenty of quality in his ranks that a second-string XI should have more than enough to beat this Kazakhstan side that have looked out of their depth throughout the latest instalment of the Nations League.

It'll be interesting to see what he goes with, and right now I think we will see some key players rested, while a few are left in place, such as Sabitzer and Arnautovic, to ensure that they secure the three points they need.

Austria will have more hunger than the hosts in this clash, so I'm expecting them to win this match to nil.

Marko Arnautovic anytime goalscorer @ 21/20

With two goals in this Nations League campaign already, it's hard to look past this man to get on the scoresheet against a side that are incredibly low on confidence. Arnautovic has been finding a way to get into a rhythm while playing for his country despite not being handed too many opportunities at Inter.

He has struggled to break in the team ahead of captain Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram this season, which has limited his game time domestically. So he is loving the international camps at the minute because it enhances his chances of getting on the pitch and having an impact - and that is just what he has been doing for Das Team so far in the Nations League.

I reckon he will be tasked with leading the line on Thursday, and he will look to take that opportunity with both hands. He will want to give a stellar performance that will catch the attention of Inter boss Simone Inzaghi, while putting his country in the best position to achieve promotion.

There could be a few goals on offer here given the result of the previous encounter, and I will be surprised if he doesn't end up grabbing one.

Offers

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